Allergy Free Gardening

Responses to questions about allergies to honey

To: Thomas Leo Ogren,
About: Local Honey and Allergies in the Spring 2004 edition of Dreams Alive Magazine

Dear Tom, my wife has allergies so she took two teaspoons of local honey as close as we could get. In about an hour her eyes started pouring, then sweating, and a little rash appeared. It lasted just a few minutes, but it seem a signal was there that something was wrong at the honey end, any ideas ? Thanks for any help. There has to be a natural way.

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Yes, it seems perfectly obvious to me that your wife had an allergic reaction to the local honey...or rather to some pollens in the local honey.

It is because the local honey has allergens in it, the same exact allergens that allergic people in that area have already been exposed to...it is because of this fact that the local honey can work as an agent to lessen sensitivities to allergies.... but, because of these same allergens in the honey, the local honey is not without some danger.

I would recommend this: have your wife try the same local honey again, but make sure you are home with her when she does it, and she should only take a tiny amount.... perhaps a quarter of a teaspoon.

If this works out and does not trigger any kind of allergic episode, then she could repeat the same thing the next day.... but in her case, she should always have someone close by, someone who can stay for at least for several hours after she's ingested the honey.

If after several weeks of this therapy, if she has been tolerating it just fine, then she could try to very slightly increase the dose, to perhaps a third of a teaspoon of honey per day.... and could keep at that level for several months or longer. Hopefully, eventually she could work her way, slowly over considerable extended time, up to a dose of one teaspoon of local honey per day. In her case I wouldn't exceed this amount.

If the above works for your wife, almost certainly she will have greatly decreased her own allergies. If, however, at any point the local honey again triggers allergic symptoms for her, then she should stop taking it all together. Best of luck and keep me posted.

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Hi. I book-marked your web site because I stumbled across an article you'd
done on taking honey daily as a kind of innoculation against local
allergens. Now I can't find the blasted thing and need to review what you
said. I don't know if you said two teaspoons a day, or twice a day. Also,
I don't know if you can have two teapsoons IN something, like tea, or if it
has to be raw. Help, help!

Much appreciated! Will be getting your book soon (my husband and I both
suffer from extreme allergies).
Sincerely,
Catherine

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Hi, Catherine,

Since I first wrote that article I have been cautioning atopic individuals...those prone to allergies...to start out very carefully, and gradually with local honey. The reason for this is that I have encountered a good number of people who have had severe allergic reactions while they were trying to immunologize themselves with local honey.

That said, I still believe in it, still feel it is, for most people, a very good idea, well worth trying...and it is often quite effective.

I would recommend this: buy the most local honey you can find....honey produced as close to where you work and live as possible, probably either from a local beekeeper, or from a local farmers' market. Start out eating, straight from the spoon, tiny amounts of this honey....less than a quarter of a teaspoon the first few times...once a day. Make sure you have someone you trust around you when you first do this, in the odd chance that it might trigger anaphylactic shock. If the local honey makes you feel odd, makes you sweat or itch, or triggers a rash, or in any way does not seem to "agree" with you, then do not continue to take it.

If, and only if, you tolerate the honey well, if you do not have any bad allergic reactions to it, if it does not make the back of your throat itch or your skin break out in hives, then, after a few weeks, gradually start increasing the amount of local honey you take each day. Take an entire month at least to work up to a full teaspoon of honey. Eat the honey straight from the spoon.

If after a month on a teaspoon a day you are not experiencing any negative reactions from the honey, then slowly work your way up to two full teaspoons of the honey a day. For the first month take the honey straight, just eat it. After a month, continue to use the honey but at this point go ahead and add it to food. If you add it to tea, wait until the tea has cooled down a bit...do not add it to extremely hot teas as the heat might nullify some of the benefits of the honey.

Continue the use of the honey all the way through late fall, discontinue use during the winter months, and then start in with it again for several months very early next spring.

My best,

Tom Ogren